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The same billionaire who put Paul Mitchell Professional Hair Care Products and Patron Tequila on the map is now looking to do the same for a natural and sustainably produced cold sore fix.

While he is not and will not be the face of Aubío, John Paul DeJoria is putting his money behind this recently launched over-the-counter (OTC) cold sore treatment. Aubío is available now at Target, CVS and Rite Aid and on Amazon.com and Aubío.com. The gel retails for $29.99 and the companion lip balm costs $10.

Fully 3.7 billion people across the globe – that’s two out of every three people including 170 million Americans — have the cold sore virus aka herpes simplex virus 1. Most cold sores appear on the lips or around the mouth, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). The virus is spread from person to person through close contact such as kissing, touching the person’s skin and/or sharing objects such as silverware, lip balm, or a razor. There is no cure for the cold sore virus. Once infected, the virus never leaves the body. Certain triggers can wake it up and cause cold sores. These include stress, illness, fever, sun exposure, menstrual periods and/or surgery, the AAD states.

Aubío’s active ingredients are listed as numbing lidocaine and moisturizing allantoin, but the real power can be found in the extract of a carnivorous plant known as sarracenia.

“The virus gets in the cell, you put on our product and that process is halted, “ explains Lawrence A. Rhiens, PhD, executive director of research and development at Aubío Life Sciences in Boca Raton, FL, at an exclusive media gathering in New York City. It works best when applied at the first sign of an impending cold sore such as tingling.

“We have optimized the effectiveness of the sarracenia extract by putting in skin lipids [which are] normal lipids that reside in lips,” he says. “The lips have no sweat glands which is why they get so dry. These lipids restore the normal physiology of lips.”

There are no side effects and it is OK to use in children, Rhiens adds.

The product sort of fell into DeJoria’s lap, and he began sharing it with friends, colleagues, coworkers and others who had the cold sore virus. It worked – and worked quickly — on everyone he shared it with. “I said ‘wow we have something here.’” His investments helped fund independent research that validated this anecdotal evidence.

Ninety-three percent of people said it worked right away, and 100 percent said they would use it again. The company is also looking to see what role the product will have in treating acne and other skin conditions.